Car-fender.



No. 810,326. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906. J. B. CONNOR.

OAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.19, 1905.

j .3 w gggwm 33., Z, M W flttouw UNITED STATEZO PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH B. CONNOR, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS MORTLAND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CAR-FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

Application filed September 19, 1905- Serial No. 279,200.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH BENBOW OoNNoR, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 526 Prescot road, Liverpool, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in (Jar-Fenders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of carfenders employing two complementary elements, one a tray or scoop or fender proper and the other a gate or setting device, both suspended beneath the car-body, and the gate arranged in advance of the tray and designed upon coming in contact with a person or animal or other body upon the car-track to swing the tray into operative positionthat is, adjacent the track-so that it will receive the body or other obstruction thereon. As heretofore constructed these safety appliances have failed to meet with practical success,owing,primarily, to the fact that they were not adapted to the usual form of street-car and were composed of so many parts and so operated that the vibration caused by the ordinary motion of the car led to their becoming deranged or broken, frequently by reason of causing the device to operate when it was not needed. Furthermore, it has been customary to make the function of the device result from the releasing of some one of the parts by another as, for instance, the gates have been designed to normally engage the levers carrying the trays and to release them upon encountering the obstructionthetrayslowering by gravity or by spring tension or the trays have been normally supported in racks and held there by trip devices, which when actuated by the gates caused the tray to enter guides, and thus be lowered adjacent the tracks. These constructions have frequently failed to operate properly when needed, and owing to the fact that their numerous parts necessitated nice mechanical adjustments in order to preserve their integrity they have been in some instances practically destroyed upon once being called into use.

The object of my invention is to overcome these difliculties, and this I accomplish by making the connection between the gate and tray a permanent and immediate one and of such formation that the swing of the gate will positively throw the tray into or out of operative position.

1n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a fender embodying my invention applied to a car-frame, the full lines indicating the operative positions of the parts and the dotted lines illustrating their normal positions. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the fender.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the lower portion of the frame of a street-car for which the invention is primarily designed, although it may obviously be adapted to the corresponding portion of any other vehicle.

2 designates brackets designed to be secured at opposite sides of the car and depending therefrom, as shown.

3 designates brackets at the rear of brackets 2, and, like thelatter, depending from opposite sides of the car. Brackets 3 may be equipped with rollers 4 or horizontal stub-shafts. These brackets constitute the only connections of the fender with the car-bod y and require no particular construction thereof. They may be secured to the bottom of the car within the width instead of at the sides, as illustrated.

5 is the gate or setting device pivotally suspended from brackets 2, preferably bya transverse bar 6, passed through apertures in the brackets. This gate may be of any preferred construction and is designed to normally hang in the vertical position shown by dotted lines, Fig. l.

7 designates rods pivotally secured to the gate, as shown at 8. These rods are of peculiar formation. They are curved longitudinally in differential radii-that is, their portions 9, which are intermediate brackets 3 and the gate when the latter is hanging vertically or in its normal position, are curved on a shorter radius than that of the balance of their length, as indicated at 10. The portions 10 may be straight, or straight relatively to portions 9, a slight curvature being obviously desirable. The rods are extended rearwardly and their extremities bent to, form the side bars of the tray 12, which may in other respects be constructed in any preferred form.

Assuming the parts to be in the positions shown in dotted lines, Fig. l, the gate will contact with the body of a person who may fall upon the track in advance of the moving car and be swung rearwardly. This will cause rods 7 to move longitudinally, and as their curved portions 9 pass through the brackets 3 their rearward extensions will be depressed and the tray lowered adjacent the track to receive and hold the body. The device may readily be reset by hand, or means for that purpose may form part of the construction, although I prefer to dispense with such means to avoid multiplicity of parts.

Practice has demonstrated that while the described construction will readily operate when needed, yet the gate will not swing by reason of the ordinary motion of the car.

While I have shown the rods 7 as formed with differentially-curved portions, yet any formation thereof which in the longitudinal travel of the rods in contact with a stationary element, as brackets 3, will cause a vertical movement of the tray consequent upon the gate swinging in an arc of a circle I regard as within the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention 1. In a safety device for cars, a tray or fender designed to be moved vertically toward and away from a track, a vertically-suspended gate designed to'be swung in the arc of a circle, a connection between said tray and said gate having a curved or cam-shaped portion, a rigid support for said connection through which the latter is movable, whereby the longitudinal movement of said connection consequent upon the swing of the gate will effect the movement of said tray.

2. In a safety device for cars, a tray or fender, a gate, brackets designed to'be rigidly secured to a car-frame, rods connecting the tray with the gate, said rods being longitudinally curved and movable in said brackets, whereby said tray is caused to move vertically upon the swinging of said gate.

3. In a safety device for cars, a tray orfe'nder, a gate, a rigid support secured to a carframe, a rod connecting the tray with the gate, said rod being longitudinally movableportion engages the support, for the purpose stated.

4. In a safety device for cars,atray or scoop, a gate, supports designed to be secured to a car-frame and to which said gate is pivoted, brackets also designed to be secured to the car-frame. and rods pivoted to said gate, movable longitudinally in said brackets and forming the side bars of said tray, said rods being curved longitudinally, for the purpose stated.

- JOSEPH B. CONNOR. Witnesses:

JAMns A. (JoUBRoUeH, 'WILLIAM A. BLANCHARD. 

